-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A quick history lesson courtesy of Dive Vanuatu and Sailaway Cruises. It is rumored that the story of Roymata will be incorporated into Survivor Vanuatu.

Roymata's Grave, Hat Island ( The Island of the Dead)

King Roymata

Chief Roymata was so powerful that he took the title of King. Through sheer personal magnetism, Roymata united the warring and cannibalistic tribes of the area into a unified, peaceful group. But sibling jealousy ended his life when Roymata's brother shot a poison dart into his throat. Roymata did not die quickly, but suffered a lingering malaise. His grieving family and clan carried the dying King around the island of Efate, to say farewell to those whom he had unified. Finally he was taken to the famous Feles Cave on Lelepa Island where he died.

It is then told how he was carried to Devil's Point, the entry to the Underworld, and then through the mystical underwater caverns of Tukutuku to Retoka (Hat Island), where he was interred. Here, many men and women were interred with him, entombed alive.

A seven hundred year long tabu, on pain of death had been placed on Retoka Island, more commonly known as Hat Island. No one lived there and few plucked up the courage to sleep, or even go there, despite its wealth of turtle eggs and abundant fish life. Hat was know as the Island of the Dead, a ghost island.

In 1967, French archeologist Jose Garanger offered to search for the grave of Roymata to determine if he was a real, or mythological figure. The chiefs of Lelepa, equally curious, gave their blessing on condition that the grave be returned to its original state after investigation.

The burial site was surprisingly easy to find. Two rock slabs, like tombstones, at the base of a large white wood tree were located in a natural 'clearing' only 100m from the beach, on the north west side of the small island. Oral tradition held that no tree or bush would ever grow over the site of Roymata's grave; that holds true today.

In an area 20m x 10m, the archeological team dug down less than a metre before uncovering skeletons. As bones were uncovered, it quickly became evident that a mass burial had most certainly taken place. Forty seven skeletons were unearthed, radio carbon dating placing their time of death at between 1250-1300 A.D.

It must have been a grand event. Hundreds of mourners had accompanied Roymata to his final resting place. Forty six were never to leave. Traditionally, when a prominent chief died he required the company of his family and supporters to join him in his journey to the subterranean nether world. At least one of his wives must go; Roymata was reputed to have had ten. Also on the sacrificial hit list were the very old, incurably sick or incapacitated, children whose mothers had died in childbirth and lesser chiefs' wives where a daughter had died, sick witch doctors and wives of dead sorcerers'. From a practical standpoint, it was a general clearing out of economically unproductive people, and those who may have caused the deaths of others - black magic being the most common form of death in the islands.

For the men, being buried alive followed the ritual kava ceremony. On this occasion, the kava would have been laced with a soporific poison. But women were not allowed to drink kava, so they were either bravely buried alive, or strangled with a cord and laid out beside their husbands. All were orientated towards the southwest, so their spirits entered the dry 'country of the dead' out from Devil's Point.

Roymata's arms were ringed with valuable full circle pig's tusks, and white 'magic' shells placed strategically around his body. His head was supported on a slab of dressed limestone.

Roymata's place of death was Feles Cave on Lelepa Island. The dome shaped cavern has a 40m ceiling but only a 15sq metre entrance through the white cliffs of volcanic ash and pumice.

Like most volcanic islands in the South Pacific, frequent volcanic eruptions placed successive layers of pyroclastic material, including acidic ash, over basal basalt and coral reefs. With successive ice ages, the seas came and went, sometimes exposing land for eons and at other times flooding the area so yet more coral reef grew over compacted ash beds.

In many places, calcium carbonate leached from the coral reefs trickled through cracks in the ash, cementing it together, metamorphosing it.

Around 2 million years ago the ocean washed out the softer ash in the cliff at Lelepa Island, leaving the denser, ashy limestone behind. Subsequent earthquakes have caused sections of the ceiling to collapse, raising the floor level at the entrance to the cave. Lumps of carbon are mixed amongst the ash, protruding like black gems between the fault line. Inside, ancient cave drawings made from these lumps of carbon, were carbon dated in 1967 to more than 200 years old. Simple figures include men, turtles, fish, chickens and a whale. Traditional geometric patterns are also visible, albeit faded.

In 1879 a New Zealand missionary, M. Milne added his name and date to other, older graffiti carved into the cave's inner walls. This must have been inscribed shortly before he became involved in a dispute between villagers on Nguna Island and fatally met the blunt end of a pig killing club. It is rumoured he was popped into a missionary cooking pot and his religion absorbed abdominally. Also along the inside of the walls is a series of carved, circular notches. Each notch supposedly represents the death of villagers. There are hundreds of such notches, but it is unknown when the system began and ended. Perhaps the most gruesome tale associated with the cave is when a group of villages sought refuge there whilst being pursued by blackbirders aggressively recruiting labourers for the Queensland sugar plantations in the mid 1800's. To extract them from the cave, a large fire was lit at the entrance and the villagers smoked out, only to be killed or thrown alive into the fire as they exited

JP: Next time on Survivor...Leann: It's been raining forever. Scout: It's gonna be a miracle if we can keep our fire. I've never been in a worse situation than this. JP: And then...Scout makes her move. Scout: The guys will vote with us. Then the game changes. Ami: Right now I'm not real trusting of the ladies.

Thanks bama.. _{} . there are so many vidcaps it will take me an hour to host them..here they come ..I'll pull some out for a larger version since there are so many..lol I think they gave us a full hours worth of pictures

WOW !!!!!!! Pigs , natives , running, tied up ..pole climbing..look at Scout up their Scout wants Ami out..? I thought she was trying to stay in the game lol..Scout you haggy witch..Ami will cut your throat........then knock the Shizznit out of you .. *

The queens stays and it's Julie's time to burn next week. Will I bet two more gold memberships on it? We'll have to see.

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Well, I won't place any further extended bets now that I'm hearing it's Ami (again), so as of this moment it's between Ami and Julie as next weeks boot.

S.

Seraphaem

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As it stands, I've got one contact saying it's definitely Ami, two others emphatic that it's Scout (who loses her power play as Eliza makes her move to oust her with others), and another who says it's Julie's time to go.

C'mon guys ... you're not making it easy for old Sera to save his cash on a bet for next week.

A surreal Reward drives one Survivor to overindulge and pay for it later. I easily give this to Ami's team ..look at Chris..overindulge? Looks like they get a trip to a native luau ..Kava , dancing..maybe they return the pig?

Not to mention the lai's they are wearing..lol I'm convinced Ami's team wins this one .

IC..they look so funny ..anyway ...endurance Lets see we have Scout with the bad knee/ Chad with one good leg../ Chris with bad feet ..Lets give this one to a lady for now.. ?? Ami/Eliza/Julie/LeeAnn untill we see better vidcaps

Scout says, "If the guys vote with us.." indicating she already has someone on her side. I say that person is Twila. Scout then goes to Chris and Chad to get them to vote for either Eliza or Julie, who is now a threat to Scout based on her friendship with Leanne. I think what she's saying is "we've got to get ami" not in the sense of voting her off, but getting her to vote with them.

Scout goes to Ami and tells her that Leanne and Julie are getting too chummy or tries to convince her to vote for Eliza, creating doubt in Ami's mind.

Additionally, it's known that Ami/Chris/Chad/Eliza win RC and that someone says too much. The only person who says too much in the show is Eliza. I think she slips up about strategy in a way that irritates Ami. Maybe it's that Leanne/Julie are aligning...maybe it's something else. Ami is torn. "Right now I'm not too trusting of the ladies." It's clear from the promos, however, that Ami is the one who looks like a person deciding between joining a new alliance and "thwarting an old one".

I think Eliza and Leanne notice Ami waivering and contemplate voting her off. Meanwhile Ami is scheming with Scout and Twila to join the men to vote off Eliza, Leanne or Julie. I think she will go along with it because the women will still have numbers advantage in that alliance. Hence her statement in the promos, "We're going to have to start voting out women".

Eliza will make a last-ditch effort to get Scout or Chad voted off but will fail.

My prediction is that Eliza or Julie will go. Then Leanne. Then Chad. The remaining four will be: Scout, Ami, Twila, Chris

Riverrat

Is that Julie perched up there like a bird? Looks like that position would put more strain on the hands and feet. The MHL probably wins IC again. She's probably used to being tied up. Now I have to go drink my cream. meow

It is Julie but, I don't think shes slipping I think shes climbing..this was brought up on another board...could it be that Chad has an advantage? His metal leg may actually help him stay up longer if he could some how get it to stick into the wood?

I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger!! (from the, er, jury, that is)Contestant Name, info Final two friends Final two enemies Overall survivability Leann Slaby35, Milwaukee, WISinger/ actor - Ami, possibly Scout or Julie - The men- Any woman who done her wrong Episode 11 Overall Voted out Third juror